Quarantining....again
We already knew that the holidays, similar to the rest of this year, were going to be a bit different. We had planned on having a very small immediate family gathering for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As we were just about to leave the house on Christmas Eve, I received a text from the gentleman who drives me home from work and picks up Noah at daycare on our way home. He tested positive for Covid through his workplace and we were a direct exposure. There went all of our minimal plans for the holidays. This was our second quarantine as we quarantined earlier in the month due to a positive case in Noah’s class at daycare. My biggest fear was, I hope we do not get sick and if we do, nobody can help us.
Although this year was different and it certainly did not feel like a normal holiday season, we made the best of it. Family dropped off leftovers and gifts in our garage. Our garbage can top was the landing spot to transfer items whether coming in or gifts etc. going out. I felt like we were in prison with packages being delivered and no human contact.
We were able to facetime with family, grandparents and friends to exchange gifts and keep busy. We took walks and went for car rides just to get out of the house and Noah even had his first taste of McDonald’s French fries, my husband’s idea of course.
Our big outing was this past Tuesday when we elected to all get tested for covid, again. Our appointments were at 10:15AM which was perfectly plopped after Noah’s first nap. He was a tad cranky on the way to get tested and I gave him a couple puffer’s, his favorite quick snack. We get to the testing location and they asked us if the baby has eaten anything in the past half hour. My heart immediately sunk, I thought they were going to say he couldn’t get tested for some reason. No, the reason they were asking was because if he has not eaten in the past half hour, they could do a mouth swab. Of course I fed him like five minutes ago. He handled the covid tests well and whines for maybe 10-20 seconds but then it is all over. Good information if we need to be tested in the future.
Our county and state just lowered the quarantine period to ten days if you have no symptoms. I originally spoke with the Health Department early last week and she was unable to honor this for some reason. I called back later in the week to have our last names changed on the quarantine release letters (they butchered it real bad). I asked again about the ten-day quarantine and the woman was able to fix it immediately. I have learned to always advocate for myself and my family and to never take no for an answer when I know something otherwise.
I am back at work and writing this on my lunch break. Worried about my little guy as he is back at daycare after being home since Wednesday, 12/23/2020. I felt like it was our first time bringing him to daycare. So much has happened in the past 10-12 days.
He used to take 3 bottles at daycare alone, now he is on none. He is slowly weaning off of bottles and formula and doing amazing at it but I just worry how he is doing, how he is handling being back and what he is up to. I use positive self-talk and tell myself that he is doing just fine, his teachers are incredible, he is learning and growing and he is just fine. One of the main teachers said, “I’ll call you if we have any questions,” but no calls yet. It is incredible to me how they juggle multiple kids when I struggle sometimes handling my own single baby.
Being a parent, and especially being a mother has its ups and downs, filled with worries along the way, but little ones are so resilient and go with the flow. They are so smart and so cute and as long as he is fed, healthy, safe, dry and loved, what else is there to worry about?